It’s an exciting year for Edmonton-based country singer Dan Davidson as he’s up for five Alberta Country Music Association (ACMA) Awards.
This year marks the second year in a row he’s been nominated.
“It’s satisfying for me after putting in so much hard work. People are still noticing, so it’s awesome,” he said.
One of those award categories is Song of the Year, for the song Barn Burner, which came out on the tail of his first single Found.
“Clayton Bellamy and I wrote it together and we had such a great time writing Found that we decided we’d try it again on Barn Burner, and we couldn’t get in the same room on this one so we did a few Skype writes, so we never really left our pyjamas,” he said with a laugh.
Davidson recently released his new EP Songs for Georgia, which was inspired by his four-year-old daughter Georgia.
Georgia was a toddler when some of the songs were starting to get finished.
“She just knew all the words and loved dancing and singing to them.”
Davidson began playing music professionally when he was 19-years-old in a band from Edmonton called Tupelo Honey.
“We had a lot of success. We had toured with bands like Bon Jovi and we had several Top 40s and Top 10 iTunes albums and huge commercial placements in the States.”
They later went their separate ways, but Davidson said he had always wanted to do more of a solo thing.
“When I started writing it just came out country. I think as an Albertan we can’t get away from that sometimes.”
Looking back at the past year, Davidson said his first single Found going gold was a career benchmark.
“I think I was the only independent country artist to have a gold record this year, and that was really cool to see my name as the number one song in Vancouver, the top selling Canadian song for six weeks this year. That’s the kind of stuff I never thought I would see,” he said.
The highlights and excitement don’t stop there. Going into the New Year, Davidson will be heading out on tour with Brett Kissel to perform at 35 shows.
“He’s always been a really great supporter for me and he’s always given me words of encouragement as things were starting. Now that it’s happening, it’s so nice to be able to get up on the same stage and play together and become closer friends.”
Davidson said when it comes to getting his inspiration for songwriting, he tries to steer clear of what the Top 40 sounds like.
“I find that when people start to chase what’s cool, by the time you get there it’s not cool anymore,” he said.
He added that he hopes to have a single come out some time in the New Year.
“The hardest part of my job is figuring out what the next single is, and I can’t stand the choosing,” he said with a laugh.
Davidson will perform alongside Brett Kissel at the Sheraton Hotel Jan. 19th and will head out to the ACMA Awards the following week.
